Yoshizumi on including Tales characters in next Smash Bros., more

Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada isn’t going to push Masahiro Sakurai into adding any of his characters on the roster for the next Smash Bros. games. Tales series producer Makoto Yoshizumi seems to be carrying the same mentality, though Yoshito Higuchi would apparently “love” to see a character or two included.

Yoshizumi has said that getting a Tales character into the new Smash Bros. may prove to be difficult since “a character can only appear in a Smash Bros game if he already appeared on a Nintendo console.” This rule limits the selection to a few titles such as Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, and Tales of Hearts.

Y: Yes, Higuchi-san! As you already know, he’s working on the next Smash Bros game. It’s a loss for us and the Tales series for the next few years.

KoT: Few years?

Y: Yes. You know, Sakurai-san is an acquaintance. He went to see me and asked “Let me borrow Higuchi-san” and I said “Ok.” *laughs*

KoT: Many fans are dying to know: now that Higuchi-san is working on the next Smash Bros game, can we expect one or several Tales characters in it?

Y: This is a difficult question! Maybe if we beg Sakurai-san, it will happen! I know Higuchi-san would love it, but the decision is Sakurai-san’s. I think it’s still too early to talk about it.

KoT: Smash Bros Melee introduced Marth and Roy from the Fire Emblem series. Those characters were very popular in Occident, and resulted in the Fire Emblem series being localized for the first time in America and Europe. I’m sure Tales characters in the next Smash Bros would be excellent advertising for the series.

Y: That’s true. But we need to keep in mind that a character can only appear in a Smash Bros game if he already appeared on a Nintendo console. This is one of the conditions, and many Tales characters do not fulfill it. Of course, some do, like characters from Tales of Symphonia or Tales of the Abyss.

KoT (Kusuru): Or Tales of Hearts. I love Tales of Hearts *laughs*

Y: You know, Tales of Hearts was one of Baba-san’s important and recent projects, before Graces and Xillia. I think we can tell how much he influenced the game. He always had specific tastes about the costumes, especially for healers, he loves those brother-sister relationships, and he enjoys having a female character who looks human but isn’t.

KoT: Since Higuchi-san left to work on Smash Bros, I take it he took some Tales developers with him?

Y: Yes, of course. But not only developers from the Tales series. He took some people from other teams with him too, especially from the Tekken development team.